Betty Ann Addison was preparing to say goodbye to her beloved, 16-acre nursery, Rice Creek Gardens, when I first met her in 2006. After 20 years, rising taxes and assessments had made running the park-like nursery she and her late husband, Charles, opened on the site of a former junkyard in Blaine a losing proposition. Her eyes were sad, but the joy she felt as she pointed out specific plants, many of which she and Charles had hybridized themselves, was obvious in the way she smiled, or sometimes laughed in that way she does, short, sweet, a cross between a squeal and a giggle. A person would have to be made of stone to not be made happy by that laugh. Hugging goodbye, she admitted that the move was hard, but things were going to be all right, she said, because “I will remember how blessed I’ve been, and I will go on living every moment and, well, isn’t that enough?”

Betty Ann Addison sells many unique and hard-to-find plants in her backyard every season.

Such a sentiment might sound hopelessly upbeat coming from someone else. But people who know Addison, who is now in her late 70s, know that she is the sort of person who has always lived every moment—and then some. Over lunch at her house in Feburary, she apologized for being tired, explaining that she had just gotten home from the gym and was feeling a bit discombobulated due to floor refinishing, kitchen updating and other house projects in the works. Still, in between bites of the chicken soup she’d made for us, she talked excitedly about the presentation she would soon be doing for the Potomac Valley Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society in Bethesda, Maryland.

Addison is well known for her rock gardening expertise and has designed and built several public rock gardens including the Peace Garden at Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, as well as gardens in New York’s Central Park. “Rock gardening is the highest horticultural art because it incorporates so many thousands of wild and cultivated plants, combined with rocks, to make a landscape based on nature” she says. To illustrate, she tells the story of how her mother took up rock gardening in her 70s. “My mother passed away at 93 and she was a great gardener all her life. When she told me she wanted to try rock gardening, I built one for her and she said it was the best garden she ever had because every day there was something new to discover.”

Betty Ann propagates many of the plants she sells herself.

For decades, Addison traveled the world with her mother, bringing home plants to try in their home gardens: hers in Minnesota and her mother’s on Long Island where Addison grew up. Sometimes the two of them brought back so many plants in their luggage, they had to send their clothes home in boxes. At a time when Minnesotans had few hardy plants to choose from, Addison’s trials and propagation of thousands of varieties of seeds from worldwide sources helped make the wider selection gardeners enjoy today possible.

Betty Ann hybridizing rhododendrons at her home.

Addison is a longtime propagator and breeder of hardy rhododendrons, including large-leaf rhododendrons, which were long thought to be ungrowable in this climate. Recently, she purchased an acre of land across the street from her house for testing rhododendrons and she’s looking forward to seeing some of her hybrid creations bloom this spring. On the day I visited, Addison was most concerned with the immediate need to transplant the hundreds of alpine cuttings growing in flats in the sunny, south-facing greenhouse she had built several years ago. Just a short set of stairs down from her living room, the greenhouse is the starting place for many of the plants she sells at her home-based nursery, Gardens of Rice Creek, in Fridley. The nursery is open every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. starting in May through Labor Day. And as she did at Rice Creek in Blaine, Addison offers an extraordinary selection of rare and unusual plants, including dwarf conifers, alpine and rock garden plants, as well as native wildflowers and rhododendrons. (For more information visit the Gardens of Rice Creek website.)

Whew! I apologize for disappearing for so long. A family member has been ill for several months, and I haven’t had time to post. Things haven’t really calmed down, but I’m going to try to get back in the groove of writing more regularly so, here goes: Let’s talk about new plants for 2015. Or more specifically, new plants that can survive Minnesota’s horrifyingly cold, Zone 4 climate. For those of you who live where it’s even colder, I’ve got a few plants that are hardy to Zones 2 and 3. If you live in much warmer climates, you have the opposite problem. So you’ll want to check to see hot much heat the plants I’m talking about can take before you buy them.

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

You’re probably familiar with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Plant Hardiness Zones, which indicate the minimum temperatures in 11 areas across the country. By checking the USDA’s map, you can see whether a plant you’re considering can take your area’s minimum temperature. For example, in Zone 4b where I live, plants need to be hardy to at least -25° F to make it.

It’s always hard to choose just a few plants to highlight from the long list of new introductions each year. But here are some of my favorites. Before I go on, though, I want to remind you that if you are concerned about the effect of neonicotinoid pesticides on bees, you’ll need to check with sellers before you buy plants. Some retailers have stopped selling plants treated with “neonics” in response to studies suggesting that the pesticides harm bees, particularly honeybees. But this issue is still being sorted out and not everyone is on board. I’ll write more about what’s happening with neonics very soon, so without further ado, here are the plants.

Tiger Stripes Solomon’s seal

Got shade? Try adding some Solomon’s seal ‘Tiger Stripes’ (Polygonatum falcatum) from Plant Delights Nursery to your garden. This variegated selection has pretty cream-colored highlights and grows to about 18 inches tall. Fruit clusters appear in the fall and plants are hardy to Zone 4. Plant Delights is located in Raleigh, N.C., and is known for offering unique plants that are hard to find elsewhere. Orders can be placed on their website.

Cobra lily Saturnus – High Country Gardens

I’ve never tried growing cobra lily (Chasmanthe Saturnus) but I’m going to try now. This South African native bulb offered by High Country Gardens blooms in mid-summer and is hardy to Zone 2. Spikes of fragrant, tubular orange flowers attract hummingbirds. Plants grow to between 3 and 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide and need full sun, which is 6 hours or more.

‘Hatatogisa’ toad lily – Creek Hill Nursery

Toad lilies are great for our northern gardens because they bloom late in the season and look so tropical. Tricyrtis ‘Hatatogisa’ from Creek Hill Nursery is a lovely Japanese toad lily with orchid-like, purple-spotted flowers on long, arching stems. This plant is not really new, but it is being freshly promoted. Plants grow 18 to 24 inches tall and 12 inches wide and prefer part shade to full shade. Zone 4.

Above and Beyond™ rose – Bailey Nurseries

Looking for a tough, no-fuss rose that’s like no other? Head out to local garden centers and ask for Above and Beyond™ (Rosa ‘ZLEEltonStrack’), the newest rose from local breeder David Zlesak. David gave me this rose to test in my garden a couple of years ago, so I can attest to its hardiness and beauty. Introduced by Bailey Nurseries, Above and Beyond has apricot-colored flowers that open in mid- to late-spring and often rebloom throughout the season. Plants grow 10 to 14 feet tall and about 14 feet wide, which sounds ginormous, but you can easily prune them to be shrubs or climbers. I’ve got mine growing on a south-facing fence. Full sun. Zone 3.

Serious Black clematis – Walters Gardens

I know they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I like black plants. So I can’t resist suggesting Clematis recta ‘Lime Close’, also known as Serious Black™, a nod to Harry Potter fans everywhere. Unlike vining clematis, this new introduction from Walters Gardens offers dark-purple foliage that looks almost black and grows in clumps to about 6 feet tall. Foliage ages to green as the summer progresses and is topped with white flowers with slender petals. (Plan on supporting plants if they get too tall and floppy.) Walters doesn’t sell to the public, but you should be able to find this plant at garden centers. Full sun. Zone 4a.

Pink Truffles baptisia

If you like baptisia but wish plants wouldn’t flop over after they bloom in early summer, try Baptisia ‘Pink Truffles’ from Walters Gardens. One of several new varieties bred by Hans Hansen, this false indigo is compact at just 2 ½ feet tall and 3 feet wide and offers delicate, pink flowers. Plants are drought tolerant once they are established and should be grown in full sun to part shade. Zone 4.

Twilight Zone little bluestem – Walters Gardens

And last but certainly not least, let me point out a really striking grass from Walters Gardens. (Again, this should be available at local garden centers.) Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Twilight Zone’ is a little bluestem that is now widely available after a limited release last year. In addition to its columnar form, this ornamental grass offers silver/purple highlights. Grows to 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide. Full sun. Zone 3.

Most of these plants should be available at garden centers this season, but in some cases you can order directly from the website I’ve provided.

I’m late, late, late with a post on new plants coming out this year. Sorry about that. It keeps slipping my mind because it’s still quite cold and rainy here in Minnesota even though we’re well into June now, so going to the garden center hasn’t been high on my list. I do think I’ll go this weekend, though, and here are some of the new things this year that I’m planning to try if I can find them.

Oso Happy® Smoothie Rose (Rosa Oso Happy Smoothie‘Zlesak Poly3’ PPAF)

Bred by David Zlesak, a Minnesota-based plant breeder, hort professor and all around wonderful guy, Oso Happy Smoothie almost seems too good to be true. But it isn’t, and I know because I’m one of the lucky writers who got to test this Proven Winners introduction in my gardens last summer. Hardy, THORNLESS and resistant to black spot, this diminutive rose grows to 3 feet tall and offers up bright pink single blooms from June until frost. Mine still looked fantastic at Halloween, planted in a protected spot near the house. Sadly, the rabbits ate it over the winter and now I need a new one that I will definitely fence this fall. Full sun. Zones 4 – 9.

Oso Happy® Smoothie Rose

Brunnera ‘Sea Heart’ (Brunnera macrophylla ‘Sea Heart’)

Plants Nouveau is behind this pretty new brunnera, which their website touts as “Like ‘Jack Frost’, but on steroids’, which sounds creepy, honestly. But they go on to explain that in a side-by-side test with ‘Jack Frost’, ‘Sea Hart’ flowered longer and better handled the heat and humidity. Sounds good, and the pink and blue blooms look lovely, too. I’ll always make room for brunneras. Full sun to full shade. Zones 4 to 8.

Brunnera Sea Heart

Heuchera Little Cutie™ Series

Terra Nova Nurseries introduced its mini coral bells series, Little Cutie, exclusively last summer. So I’m calling these plants new in 2013 because they are now much more widely available. The series includes seven petite, new heucheras, all bred for their outstanding colors, including ‘Blondie’, ‘Coco’, ‘Frost’, Ginger Snap’, Peppermint’, ‘Sugar Berry’ and ‘Sweet Tart’. Drought-tolerant and easy going as long as they’re planted in well-drained soil, these Little Cutie coral bells look best when grown in rock gardens or spots where they won’t get lost among larger plants. They also make great container plants, providing you heel them in before winter. Full sun to part shade. Zones 4 to 9 (depending on the variety).

Heuchera ‘Sweet Tart’

Heuchera ‘Coco’

Hibiscus ‘Midnight Marvel’

I added hardy hibiscus to my gardens a few years back and they never fail to stop passersby who want to know, “What are those beautiful, exotic-looking plants?” ‘Midnight Marvel’ from Walters Gardens kicks things up a notch with this hibiscus, which grows to 48 inches tall and offers dark black-burgundy foliage with gorgeous red blooms that last from mid-summer to fall. Full sun. Zones 4 – 9.

I stupidly bought a Japanese wisteria years ago that never blooms and will likely never, ever bloom in our climate. So I’m going to euthanize the poor thing in a couple of weeks and replace it with this new variety from Bailey Nursery. Touted as being fragrant and more reliably cold hardy than other wisterias, ‘Betty Mathews’ has showy, dark-lavender blooms that are said to appear on new growth in early June. Once the flowers fade, cool-looking seedpods form in late summer and last into winter. Heck, I’ll try it. Full sun. Zones 4 – 8.

Pros weigh in on the best plants and gardening practices for our changing climate.

Extreme Gardening, that’s the name of the reality TV show someone really ought to make about what it’s like to be a northern gardener. We’re already well known for our ability to cope with short growing seasons while making sensible, hardy plant choices and coping with dreadful-sounding issues like frost heave and snow mold. Now, climate trends indicate that we must add excessive heat, humidity, drought and torrential “rain events” to our list of things to think about before putting trowel to dirt. Surely all of that adds up to enough adversity, struggle and tears to make a successful show, right?

Early summer hail storm knocks over family of plastic pigs—top left.

As you no doubt have noticed, our climate is changing. In January, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that 2012 was the world’s 10th warmest year since 1880. Closer to home, 2012 was the warmest on record for the United States and the third warmest for Minnesota. But increasing average temperatures are not the only climate trend affecting our region. According to University of Minnesota Climatologist Mark Seeley, the average number of days with a high dew point in also increasing, and we are also experiencing changes in the amount and type of rainfall we get.

Annual precipitation has increased over the last several decades and is expected to continue to do so. Heavy rain that sometimes leads to flooding is becoming more common. Yet between these events, we are experiencing long periods of drought. Complicating matters further is the rate at which changes are happening, Seeley says. Because it is possible temperatures may rise faster than we, or nature, can adapt.

I admit it. I have Home and Garden Show envy. I read blog posts by gardeners all over the world who talk about the innovative gardening products and to-die-for plants they just saw at their local Home and Garden Show. (Most of them post great photos, too, so I don’t think they’re lying.) Inevitably, their exuberance makes me feel excited about going to Minneapolis’ Home and Garden Show, which is ridiculous because I already know that our local show is totally lame. Lame, lame, lame! Year after year, I go because I get free tickets with a garden magazine I subscribe to. And every year I walk away complaining about how lame it is that people have to pay $11 per ticket, $13 at the door, to walk around a hot, windowless arena packed solid with trade show booths offering the same array of stuff: granite countertops, gutters, expensive kitchen gadgets, hideous bathtub and shower inserts, outdoor gazebos, patio furniture, flooring and hot tubs. So many hot tubs—$16,000 hot tubs.

Didn’t spot this hot trend coming in 2013 did ya?

Seriously, they should pay people to attend this event. Or at least let people in for free: the hope being that once they’re inside folks will buy some mini doughnuts and cheese curds followed by copious amounts of beer. Enough beer to, say, allow them to throw down a credit card for a hot tub as big as a Volkswagen. “Ah, who the hell cares where we’ll put it, honey. Let’s just get it!”

Okay, if you’re not a local, you’re probably thinking: “Hey, it’s not like anyone is holding a gun to people’s heads to make them go to this home show thing.” But you’re wrong. There is a gun, and it’s called winter. In Minnesota, by the time March rolls around, most of us would pay any amount of money to go anywhere to see anything different than what we’ve been looking at for five months indoors. Add the word “garden” to the name of the event, and you’ve got yourself a crowd. Even people that don’t give a hoot about plants will fork over cash just to see something ALIVE, maybe smell some dirt, see some flowers. We are a desperate lot.

And they say there’s nothing new in gardening.

But therein lies the problem. There ain’t much Garden in our Home and Garden Show. Yes, there are some interesting gardening talks given by local gardening gurus, as well as some of my fellow master gardeners. But those are usually off in some airless side room far from the arena’s main floor. To see actual plants you have to thread your way through countertops and hot tubs and super-absorbant sponges to get to one small area in the back of the arena where mostly lesser-known landscape design firms have their displays. Some years are better than others. This year, though, was just plain weird. For reasons I am completely unable to fathom, there seemed to be some kind of TV show theme to the booths. This would have been bizarre no matter what, but why Fantasy Island, Miami Vice and Gilligan’s Island? Did the organizers of this event swear off TV in the 1980s? Are the TV shows of my adolescence already so kitschy they’ve actually become cool?

Were people worried that visitors would be bored looking at some dumb, old plants outside the context of a TV theme? I don’t get it. Do you?

Is it me? Or is this just creepy?

At least these guys had the sense to just make a poster.

Everyone wants a Gilligan in their landscape, right?

Smoke came out of this Gilligan’s Island volcano, which was kind of cool.

Who’s up for dinner on the ground next to some really hot rocks?

So, tell me. Do you have a good garden show in your city? If so, please email me a photo so I can live vicariously through you. Or, hey, maybe I’ll send them to next year’s local planning committee. They could use some ideas.

“I think my garden looks great in winter, especially after a fresh snowfall.” That’s what Cindy, a reader in Wisconsin, said in an email she sent to me last week. As proof, she attached this magical, postcard-worthy photo of her yard.

As you can see, she is absolutely right, and I wrote her back right away to say so, and to ask permission to post the photo on my blog. Cindy wasn’t trying to boast. I think she just wanted to remind me that there’s more to winter than smashed ornamental grasses, buried outdoor furniture and yellow snow. And she did concede that, “It’s a little easier to landscape for winter in the country than in the city,” which it is for a variety of reasons.

Still, while urban dwellers like me aren’t likely to experience the kind of snowy backyard wonderland that our more outlying counterparts do, her kind note did motivate me to try to see more beauty in what has so far been a pretty ass-kickingly tough winter. So, let’s not focus on the loveliness of my own backyard, which includes this focal point by the driveway.

There’s a tamarisk under there somewhere.

Instead, behold this amazingly cool Christmas tree made of sphagnum moss and potted orchids and bromeliads that I saw at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum last week.

Outside at the arboretum and down by the lake near my house, there are these sights to behold.

Back inside where it’s warm, there’s fern frost on the bathroom window.

Hi. My name is Meleah Maynard and I garden in crazy-ass cold, zone 4 Minneapolis, Minnesota. My first book, co-authored with Jeff Gillman, Decoding Gardening Advice: The Science Behind the 100 Most Common Recommendations, was recently published by Timber Press. Click here to email Meleah.